Here's what happpened, and why

LiveModern, members and visitors,

I just wanted to let you know how the forum software work went, and explain some of the differences in the look and feel of the site.

All of the content that was in the old forums was successfully transferred, except the Forum Software forum (this one takes its place) and the Practice forum (ditto). Neither of those had critical content. But all others did, and we successfully transferred all of those forums, topics and replies.

We also archived them. You can find them at http://livemodern.com/forums/archivedforums (this link is in the announcement message of each of the new forums). The main reason we archived all of the legacy forums is that not all of the authorship data was transferred successfully. There are a lot of posts from Anonymous User. We felt that this could be confusing to both experienced and new users alike, so we decided to give the forums a fresh start. If you have a topic or reply that you want to bring out of the archive, use a URL in a new forum to reference it (or copy and paste the body of the post). Note that you cannot enter or edit posts in the archived forums.

Now for the new forums. We simplified the forum structure, based on user feedback. We dropped all of the open and other forums (except this one). Put anything that would have gone in the open forums in Dwell Labs. We've also started new geographic forums for each of the moderators. We'll monitor these over the next few months, and if a geographic forum is not being used we will archive it. If you subscribed to a forum or topic (to be notified by email of new posts), you'll need to do that again. Otherwise, your forum preferences should be as they were before.

The new forum software is stable and works, and none of the other site functionality was affected by this work. I've identified a few forum improvements (and actually had them implemented -- and paid for -- in the software that broke), so we will be working to implement these improvements over the next few weeks. If you have suggestions, please make them here. Note that I will not be monitoring the site for the next three weeks while I am away on holiday in Europe. But I will address your suggestions when I get back mid-December.

I apologize for the the disruption in the development in our community that the broken forums caused. We were tring to improve the performance and functionality of the site, and were burnt by an unscrupulous programmer. To make the site whole again, we've spent considerable resources, and that is the reason it took so long. I hope you will join me in working to make the site a great resource by focusing on the future.

Marshall

I apologize for the the disruption in the development in our community that the broken forums caused.

That wasn't your fault. That was dwell's fault for abondoning the succesful forums in the first place.

So...I haven't been here in weeks and thought I'd just pop in and now I see all the forums are gone. I'm confused...are all of the older topic forums (furniture, materials, etc.) now simply supposed to be posted under 'dwell labs'?

Hey incubus - use dwell labs to start. When furniture threads become common we can create a dedicated forum for furniture. The first time round all the topics were created first and it seemed empty, so lets grow it from here this time.

Well, OK, but honestly, I see this as another turn for the worse. There's very little traffic in here these days and the loss of the more topic-centric forums seems to give the impression that even less is going on.

But I'll check back every so often. I do hope things pick up eventually.

Quite the contrary inc. Since the resolution of the forum index problem activity on the message boards has picked right up. And in the meantime blogging is taking off at the site and much of the discussion is also taking place in the blog commenting.

Hi Marshall,

Just got on today and am really pleased to have this resource again.

Much thanks and I have to say I sincerely appreciate the time and effort everyone has put in on it.

Really an amazing resource.

Most Sincerely,

Jonathan

Universal Joint Design Associates:
Full Service Design and Construction

Jonathan Chertok. Principal
AIA Design Associate
Austin, Texas 1 512 407 9628

www.universaljointdesign.com

Looks like we might have gone from too many forums to too few.

Just suggest what you would like to see - a furntiture forum, or anything you miss from the past. It there is consensus Marshall can add it.

I miss the Affordable Modernism Forum. Maybe it was a redundant forum, but I thought it had potential to be useful.

True - that was a popular focus.

Originally Dwell started a new forum that matched the theme of each issue, so there was always a connection between the forum and the magazine. I'd like to see that happen again. Marshall returns in a few weeks and perhaps we can do this for the new year.

There were 3 or 4 forums on the old dwell boards that seemed to get most of the activity. That would seem to be a place to start.

Marshall: the forum seems to be working. Thanks.

SaraSage: I also miss Affordable Modernism. I don't necessarily mean the forum either. I mean actual affordable Modernism!

also, I miss the discussions that sprung directly from the content of the magazine, discussing the how-to, the things people liked. It brought a lot more people into the conversation.

Hi Marshall.

Quick question.

If Dwell Labs is the primary Forum for posts (with the other two being specifically eco and dwellhome) would it make sense to have the DWELL LABS Forum in bold (or something) and for the description of the Forum to be more specific about it being the main forum?

I love the setup, but I'm thinking that it would be easier for someone to get into Dwell Labs with a little bit of help.

Cheers,

Jonathan


Universal Joint Design Associates:
Full Service Design and Construction

Jonathan Chertok. Principal
AIA Design Associate
Austin, Texas 1 512 407 9628

www.universaljointdesign.com

'Dwell Labs' just doesn't mean anything.

I'd suggest what others have said...look at the forum structure of the old site...and yes, I'd like to see forums for 'affordable modernism' and 'furniture' at least.

But I am glad to see a bit of traffic trickling back in here.

The site is still really slow, though...compariatively speaking (to other forums out there).

Marshall.

I'll just weigh in here really quick.

I'd agree that the Dwell Labs is actually a little confusing. It does not sound like a catch-all category but more like some kind of experimental category or something.

I'm not going to argue against having a furniture category but I really, really would like to be able to log onto one main site (even for affordable modernism - why should affordable be a separate criteria?) and then go to the geographic section rather than having to jump around all the time.

Perhaps it would be possible to have the Main Forum (Dwell Labs) as the only heading under DWELL and any other forums listed in a separate category - say supporting forums or something? I get the idea of having the Featured Forums up at the top, but it would be good to allow for some distinction to the main Forum.

Much Cheer,

Jonathan

the term Dwell Labs comes straight from the magazine, being a regular column where they answer questions on almost any topic from readers. This topic has mirrored that online since they began running the piece several years ago.

what was wrong with the old dwell categories?

I second the call for the old dwell catagories - they seemed
a much better organization of thoughts/topics....my two cents.

and by the way, really glad to see the boards coming back to
life, thanks for your efforts Marshall :grin:

Well, don't just stand there - somebody post a list of what they were already!:laugh:

Greg has hit on the essence of the Dwell forums: they are intended to reflect content in the print version. As such, when we made the transition in the late summer, Dwell wanted only three forums (the ones you see today). So that's what we created here.

Of course, the three forums do not reflect the broad range of topics that could be discussed. We had a few of those in the previous site (Open Forums, archived now). We consistently received feedback, however, that there were too many forums, that it was not clear where to post a topic. So when the new software was installed, we just went with the Dwell forums.

If we erred, it was in the direction of making the site simpler to use. I would think that we could (re)introduce a couple of the more useful forums, as there is demand (and retire some of the current forums as they fall out of demand). Furniture, Fixtures and Furnishings, Affordable Modernism and Modern Materials and Methods were the most active forums before the transition. perhaps that's where we should start. If we do these, I'd like volunteers to help moderate (we provide support for you).

Whatever we do, I'll just need to check in with Allison, so let me know what you want.

Marshall

Greg. Thanks, got it.

I guess my concern is that if you are reading the magazine you are kind of flipping through something and reading it and each page is to some extent equal/parallel to the others in importance - it is a kind of passive activity. Whereas if you are posting a question to the Forums you would need some kind of signpost that says this is the Main forum for you to post to, while these other two are geared towards ecoissues and the dwellhome etc.

The description of Dwell Labs to me sounds rather pedantic in the sense of it being about organizing closets or what to do with your old kitchen cabinets etc. I love these questions but just wonder whether you would know to post here if you were seeking an architect not located in one of the geographic forums, or if you were looking for advice more geared toward large scale development or tricky building science related questions. Additionally the identical font, size etc gives no visual clue about how to use it distinct from the others.

Need to track down a modern front door for your house? Want to find out what to do with your old kitchen cabinets instead of throwing them in a dumpster? Having a hard time organizing your closet?... - isn't really going to give someone an idea of the fact that Dwell Labs is the stated grand kahuna of Forums and anything not specifically related to the other Forums should be posted there.

I do admit I would have liked to see the seeking architect section, but perhaps it would be more effective to add a catchall Geographic Everywhere Else for those looking for architects/designers not located in one of the other Geographic Forums...

- Jonathan

P.S. I'd hate to go back to the huge assortment of Forums as we used to have as I found it way to time consuming to have to flop through all the possible Forums that could have posts I was interested in...plus I'm on other web based forums and never really have a hard time scrolling through all the chronologically ordered posts (no matter how haphazard the titles) in order to catch up on whichever recent posts I missed but was interested in...

[quote:UniversalConstructor format=text/plain]I found it way to time consuming to have to flop through all the possible Forums that could have posts I was interested in... plus I'm on other web based forums and never really have a hard time scrolling through all the chronologically ordered posts (no matter how haphazard the titles) in order to catch up on whichever recent posts I missed but was interested in...[/quote] jonathan, why don't you use the 'favourites' option for the stuff you really are interested in? in my favourites i have 'today', 'yesterday', and 'the day before' as well as the forums i tend to visit most. i can catch new stuff posted and i can follow forums i really want to monitor closely - quickly - then i can browse longer when i do have time.

marshall,

I think it makes sense to re-instate the three popular forums Furniture, Fixtures and Furnishings, Affordable Modernism and Modern Materials and Methods. I volunteer to moderate the Modern Materials and Methods one if Christy is wanting to pass on that role (She was the original moderator of that forum if I remember correctly, so she has first right of refusal)

Mark

[quote:hd format=text/plain][quote:UniversalConstructor format=text/plain]I found it way to time consuming to have to flop through all the possible Forums that could have posts I was interested in... plus I'm on other web based forums and never really have a hard time scrolling through all the chronologically ordered posts (no matter how haphazard the titles) in order to catch up on whichever recent posts I missed but was interested in...[/quote] jonathan, why don't you use the 'favourites' option for the stuff you really are interested in? in my favourites i have 'today', 'yesterday', and 'the day before' as well as the forums i tend to visit most. i can catch new stuff posted and i can follow forums i really want to monitor closely - quickly - then i can browse longer when i do have time.[/quote]

Another thing we are trying to do is replace the poll with a listing of the Latest Forum Topics (see http://www.cmfboard.org/ for an example, lower left slot), but only if you are logged in. If it happens, it will be shortly after the holidaze.

Marshall

Hi Marshall.

I've tried to access the archived forums with the link you provided, but I keep getting a Could not locate remote server error message.

Is there something that I'm missing?


Thanks for your help.

That's bug. Can you provide the URL of the page that you are trying to access? I'll replicate the bug and fix it.

Marshall

Aha! I discovered what happened.

The link at the beginning of this topic contains one back-slash too many. Didn't notice it until I did the copy/paste thing.

(http:///livemodern.com/forums/archivedforums)

Thanks for your help and patience!

good find there - I went in and fixed it